Sometimes Great Beginnings Start with Stops

I’ve been writing for many years. If you want to be very specific, the first creative work I specifically remember making of my own accord was a three-page poem about wolves that I wrote in the third grade. I kept going after that, writing predominantly for fun until I suddenly found that writing was an…

Post and a Poem: Sad is Brave

First things first: it’s been a while since I’ve posted, and for that, I apologize. I could tell you that “a lot has happened since last post,” which would be true. Through a minor miracle, I started a new contract as a freelance technical writer. And, thanks to a lot of hard work (plus some…

Make Believe (Poem)

First: it’s been far too long since my last post, and for that I apologize. This new novel I’ve been working on has really been gobbling up my time (in the best possible way). Still, I wanted to ensure that some of my writing consistently finds it way into the world, so here’s a new…

The Greatest Gift Is Hope

I greet you somberly on the morning after a terrible tragedy that, in combination with recent natural disasters and artificial discord, has left many people reeling, overwhelmed, and lost. Nothing can remove the hurt that many feel, and confusion will be the theme of many lives for days to come. I do not say that…

Shout, Shout, Let It All Out―Or Just Mutter Under Your Breath (Editing Life Hack)

Reading aloud. Why don’t we all do this? It’s not a rhetorical question, I seriously want to know why every writer doesn’t use this life hack ALL THE TIME. Editing is a resource intensive task, drawing on attention, concentration, and higher cognition in order to both assess content and, hopefully, identify errors (typographical, grammatical, and…

Why I Like Star Trek

I have been a fan of Star Trek longer than I have been able to speak. Given that I started speaking at 10 months, that is a LONG FREAKING TIME. I’m speaking of The Next Generation, specifically, as it’s what I watched with my mom in the wee early years of my life. In the…

Being a Good Writer Means Being a Good Editor

We, as writers, spend the bulk of our time considering how to write better. We attend workshops, go to conferences, watch TED Talks, and spend hours in hyperbolic time chambers training until our writing can reach the “next level.” And there’s nothing wrong with that. Writing is, after all, what we do and hope to continue doing…

Sticking With It

Let’s be real here for a minute: writing is HARD. The act of creating something wholly new from the ether takes a lot of time, energy, and effort. What truly makes it difficult, however, is that once those resources have been expended…you still may not see the results you desire when you want to (if…

Don’t Let Writer’s Block Slow You Down

Ah, writer’s block. Bane of all creatives, everywhere. Most people are familiar with this term, regardless of whether or not they do any writing, predominantly as it’s endemic to the creative arts. We who toil with paper and pen (or typety-typing and LEDs) do not have a monopoly on lulls of inspiration, but I feel…